1968 Wharton graduate, former President Donald Trump to contest third election after Nikki Haley withdraws

1968 Wharton graduate and former President Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ended her campaign.

Trump — who was already heavily favored to win the nomination — beat Haley in 14 out of the 15 Republican primary races during Super Tuesday on March 5. Haley was the last to drop out of the race among a crowded field of Republican candidates — which at one point included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, among others. 

In her speech announcing her concession of the GOP primary, Haley said that she would “congratulate [Trump] and wish him well” — but notably did not endorse him. 

"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him," Haley said. 

Trump had won in all of the Republican primaries thus far, except for the Vermont and District of Columbia primary races. Haley also lost to Trump in her home state of South Carolina, garnering only 39.5% of the vote during its Feb. 24 primary. 

There have been multiple legal challenges to Trump's continued candidacy. In December 2023, Colorado and Maine deemed Trump ineligible to appear on their states' primary election ballots due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol — finding that he had engaged in insurrection against the United States. Similar cases were filed in at least 30 states.

However, on March 4, the United States Supreme Court announced in a unanimous decision that states lack the power to remove Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment — therefore ensuring his appearance on all state ballots.

Trump currently faces several criminal and civil lawsuits spanning a variety of matter, one of which pertains to a federal conspiracy charge to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. In June 2023, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that Trump was indicted on 37 federal criminal charges related to classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate. 

Trump’s presumed nomination means that the upcoming presidential election will likely be a face-off between Trump and former Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of Practice and President Joe Biden — a repeat of the 2020 presidential election. If elected, Trump would be the second president in U.S. history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, along with former President Grover Cleveland.